In the latest cruel ironic twist to come from the Bloomberg administration, Lee Stuart has been named Director of New Yorkers for Parks, a quasi-governmental group charged with protecting park resources, as well as community gardens.From A Walk in the Park:
While Ms. Stuart won accolades for her role in developing housing through the Nehemiah program, others criticized her role in the destruction of vibrant community green-spaces for apartments that are out of the reach of local residents. Critics charged that at the time the median income in the districts with threatened gardens ranged from $14,000-$19,000/year while the so-called “affordable housing” had minimum income requirements of $32,000/year. At the same time numerous gardens were targeted for housing, including Cabo Rojo, Hostos-Crimmins, Eagle, Shakespeare, and Salinas Community Gardens. The Hostos-Crimmins Garden at 141st Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx was the site of one intense battle.
"I am dismayed that New Yorkers for Parks has chosen Lee Stuart to be their new Executive Director," said Activist JK Canepa, who worked on the campaign to defend Hostos-Crimmins. "In her capacity at South Bronx Churches' Nehemiah Corporation, she showed great insensitivity to the beloved Hostos-Crimmins Garden in the South Bronx, choosing instead to refuse to work with the gentle, elderly people who created, tended, enjoyed and shared their garden… nor to the volunteers who tried to find common ground between SBC and the gardeners. Housing and gardens can successfully go together, but only if there is communication between the groups.
Statement from Miss Stuart:
"I am excited to be the new Executive Director of New Yorkers for Parks. For many years, I have supported community gardens both professionally and personally. Community gardens give people an opportunity to nurture themselves and the ground beneath in an otherwise concrete city. I look forward to working with the New York Community Garden Coalition, and other park advocates as they do tremendous work to improve their neighborhoods throughout New York City."
Ms. Stuart's credibility was called into question on March 24th during the City Council parks budget hearing at City Hall. She began her testimony saying that NY4P's was the city's only independent organization dedicated to parks. Similarly, on their website, in literature, reports, and in correspondences to funders, they contend that they are "the only independent watchdog for all the city’s parks, beaches and playgrounds. NY4P also represents their non-profit as "independent" while they are in fact a partner with the city according to the Parks Department. This relationship is clearly evidenced on the Parks Department's home page (bottom, right hand side).
During budget the hearing, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe twice thanked their "friends" NY4P's. In an awkward moment for the parks commissioner on Wednesday's Brain Lehrer Show, Mr. Benepe said NY4P's were the only "legitimate" park advocacy group. In Saturday's New York Times, Ms. Stuart said they supported the new park vending rules for artists being proposed by the administration. However the Times did not identify NY4P's various relationships and connections to the Parks Department, nor to the Co-Chair of the Union Square Partnership BID, nor to Danny Meyer who is on NY4P's board. The Union Square Partnership has been publicly critical of what they consider "congestion" being caused by vendors in Union Square Park. The park is one of the four targeted for a dramatic reduction in vendors.
For more information on NY4P's relationship with the Bloomberg administration go to Crain's New York Business and scroll to the Reader's Comments below.
"New Yorkers for Parks is a partner of the Parks Department and is not a truly independent group," one reader posted. "This relationship is clearly advertised on the Parks Department's own homepage. They are inextricably linked to the government and special-interests (e.g., Danny Meyer, shared Board members with Central Park Conservancy, etc.). "
Anyone wanna bet that she gives the thumbs up to the bulldozing of the Ridgewood Reservoir?
14 comments:
A six figure salary and she has Yellow teeth...uh ok...
I toght she was a he......lou reed are you out there.......
New Yoker's for Parks?
Look at their managment lineup:
David J. Loo
Managing Director, Hudson Realty Capital, LLC
Paul Gottsegen
Halstead Management Company
Jenny Dirksen
Union Square Hospitality Group
Michael Grobstein
Retired Vice Chairman, Ernst & Young
Thomas Patrick Dore, Jr.
Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell
Mark Hoenig
Tax Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Elaine Allen
Partner
Mitchell & Titus - A member firm of Ernst & Young Global Limited
Marian S. Heiskell
The New York Times Company
Carol Loewenson
Mitchell/Giurgola Architects, LLP
John S. Winkleman
Winkleman Company, LLC
Thomas L. McMahon
President, TLM Associates, LLC
Chris Rizzo
Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP
Philip R. PitruzzelloVice President, Manhattanville Capital Projects
Columbia University
seen enough?
What's next, rich people proposing that working class and poor people that are buried in NYC cemetaries are erased from memory as the properties are convered to parks?
What's next, rich people proposing that working class and poor people that are buried in NYC cemetaries are erased from memory as the properties are convered to parks?
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Great Idea! we are busy eradicating the history of the working class, by destroying Coney Island, Yankee and She Stadiums, your very own neighborhood and rent stabilization. let's put the bones of those peasants in ships off NY Harbor and charge good money to the tourists to gawk at them. better yet, let's put em in outer space. We can use Ralph Cranston as our poster boy- To the Moon, Alice!
If JK says anything about this woman believe it. JK is a New Yorker who has dedicated much of her life to community service, to the betterment of many neighborhoods & raising the quality of life across the board. God Bless JK. We need more civic minded individuals like JK to keep NYC a decent place to live. She is old school NY.
I saw an ad for a luxury apartment building, they listed amenities such as bike racks, fire pit on roof, gardens, community rooms and game rooms.
It's a Marie Antoinette going to her fake diary farm moment.
same thing with NY4P's new director. Bulldoze the old folks garden then take control of public gardens?
There is something wrong with this picture.
Give JK the job instead.
New Yorkers for Parks, a quasi-governmental group charged with protecting park resources, as well as community gardens.
'Charged' by who? Yet another example of the media capital of the world dropping the ball.
http://www.indymediascotland.org/aggregator/categories/1
"To reward Ms. Stuart with this position of power seems to me a grave error on the part of this advocacy group, whose mission should be to protect our city's precious open green spaces, rather than to select as their chief executive someone so willing to destroy it," said J.K. Canepa, a member of More Gardens!, a coalition of community and environmental groups.
Not surprisingly, New Yorkers for Parks' official announcement makes no mention of the controversy. Instead, it concentrates on Stuart's C.V., which notably lacks any experience in parks:
HERE IS THE HOUSING CONNECTION AND HER REAL AGENDA (TO SAY NOTHING ABOUT "NEW YORKERS (THAT ARE DEVELOPERS AND CONNECTED) FOR PARKS".
While Ms. Stuart won accolades for her role in developing housing through the Nehemiah program, others criticized her role in the destruction of vibrant community green-spaces for apartments that are out of the reach of local residents. Critics charged that at the time the median income in the districts with threatened gardens ranged from $14,000 -$19,000/year while the so-called “affordable housing” had minimum income requirements of $32,000/year. At the same time numerous gardens were targeted for housing, including Cabo Rojo, Hostos-Crimmins, Eagle, Shakespeare, and Salinas Community Gardens. The Hostos-Crimmins Garden at 141st Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx was the site of one intense battle.
MORE ABOUT HER
“Why has the non-profit organization South Bronx Churches destroyed Hostos-Crimmins Community Garden? Why now, when there are negotiations and other sites to build houses on? Why are the police helping greedy developers dispossess long-time residents from their healing green space and senior center? Why destroy a garden that cleans the air from all the diesel trucks, power plants, and garbage in our area when so many of us suffer from asthma? ... This is one of the few safe places around here!!!
South Bronx Churches (SBC) destroyed our garden to build $200,000 townhouses. Churches like yours pay up to $4000 for membership in SBC. We agree that Mott Haven needs new affordable housing. However, there are hundreds of ugly abandoned lots around here. Why destroy our garden? We already had to move the garden once before: We are tired of rebuilding. We built the garden in our spare time, with our own money and our own labor. The garden was a sacred and beautiful place providing many benefits to the community.
YET MORE
"I am dismayed that New Yorkers for Parks has chosen Lee Stuart to be their new Executive Director,"said Activist JK Canepa, who worked on the campaign to defend Hostos-Crimmins. "In her capacity at South Bronx Churches' Nehemiah Corporation, she showed great insensitivity to the beloved Hostos-Crimmins Garden in the South Bronx, choosing instead to refuse to work with the gentle, elderly people who created, tended, enjoyed and shared their garden… nor to the volunteers who tried to find common ground between SBC and the gardeners. Housing and gardens can successfully go together, but only if there is communication between the groups.
"The bulldozing was done without a court order in the middle of the night with 3 garden defenders being taken to jail," Aresh Javadi, co-founder of the advocacy group More Gardens!. wrote in an email. "Interestingly the community gardeners were not given replacement land by SBC or come to any agreement as they were repeatedly asked to do, by the community and Hostos community college professors deeply involved in horticultural project in the community garden. More Gardens! did help to relocate some of the community gardeners to a community garden operated by NYRP (New York Restoration Project) following to brutal destruction of Hostos Crimmins Garden."
heh
looks like a guest speaker at an HDC conference or a Pratt Seminar.
that's a woman??
Don't get me started about the Parks Dept. I am a parent whose kid plays in Bayside Little League for many years, including this year. The kids are so valued that not one park has lights which could enable the scheduling of night games for the older kids. The garbage conditions are sometimes pathetic; we have to call 311 for garbage pickup and the occasional downed tree. We have been threatened with FINES FOR NOT DISPOSING OF GARBGE CORRECTLY and we informed the Parks Dept. that all the area garbage cans were full so we had to leave our large garbage bags next to the cans. If it weren't for all the great parents we have just volunteering, our fields would be unusable, especially after it rains. The fields are not kept up, and the diamonds and pitcher's mounds are maintained by parents. At Alley Pond, where the local Queens High School for Teaching plays baseball along with DAC and Bayside Little League, the building with the bathrooms and water fountains is locked. Every field was in use at the time, and the parking lot was pretty full. The Parks Dept. and for that matter the rest of Bloomberg's royal court always gives eastern Queens the proverbial finger.
I'm confused...is that new director a butch?...man?... or woman? Or both?
This is a story for Jerry springer!
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